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LIBERTY AND UNION, ONE AND INSEPARABLE. 



SPEECHES 



DEtlVEBSO AT TES 



REPUBLICAN UNION EESTIYAL, 



IK COUMEUORATIOK OF THE BIRTH 07 



WASHINGTON; 



HELD AT IRVIlSrG- HALL, FEB. 22, 1862, 



UNDER THE AUSPICES OS" THE 



REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEES, 



OF THE CITT AND COUNTY OF NEW TORK. 



NEW YORK: 
G. P. PUTNAM, 532 BROADWAY. 

1862. 



LIBERTY AND UNION, ONE AND INSEPARABLE. 



SPEECHES 



DELIVERED AT THE 



REPUBLICAN UNION FESTIVAL, 



IN COMMEMORATION OF THE BIRTH OF 



WASHINGTON; 



HELD A.T II^VING^ HALL, FEB. 22, 1862 



UNDER THE AUSPICES OF TDS 



REPUBLICAIN CENTRAL COMMITTEES, 



OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK. 



NEW YORK: 
G. P. PUTNAM, 532 BROADWAY, 

186 2. 



^^ nA^^CajU. 



V 






SPEECHES 



BY 



ELLIOT C. COWDIN, PROF. HITCHCOCK, DE. BELLOWS, WM. 

M. EVARTS, HON. HEiS^RY J. RAYMOND, HON. 

HORACE GREELEY, HON. GEORGE FOLSOM, 

AND E. DELAFIELD SMITH. 



The Republican Union Festival formed no insignificant portion of the celebration of 
Washingion's Birthday. About six hundred guests sat down to a splendid collation, 
provided in the best style of Mr. L. F. Harrison, the proprietor of Irving Ilall. The 
collation was most bountiful, and received full justice at the hands of the guests. At 
the main table sat Sheridan Shook, Esq., Chairman of the Republican Central Com- 
mittee, Dr. Tyng, Dr. Bellows, Dr. Hitchcock, Ex-Judge Peabody, Wm. M. Evarts, Hon. 
Geo. Folsora, James A. Briggs, Geo. W. Blunt, Hon. H. J. Raymond, Joseph Hoxie, 
Erastus C. Benedict, Col. Frank E. Howe, Hon, Horace Greeley, Hon. Hiram Barney, 
Rufus F. Andrews, S. B. Chittenden, and others of equal note. The other tables were 
presided over by Hon. Janies Kelly, Justice Welsh, Hon. Abram Wakemann, Owen 
W. Brennan, Timothy. G. Churchill, John Keyser, Daniel L. Pettee, Andrew Bleakley, 
Hon. Wm. A. Darling, Andreas Willmann, and Wm. S, Opdyke. They were decorated 
with appropriate emblems, comprising national flags, forts, ships, and Union mottoes, 
of a patriotic nature. At 8| o'clock Mr. Shook called the assembly to order, and nomi- 
nated for Pi-esident Mr. Elliot C. Cowdin, who was unanimously chosen to that office. 

Mr. CowDiN, on taking the Chair, was received with applause; and spoke as 
follows : — 

Speech of Elliot C. Cowdin. 

Fellow-Citizens : — My first duty is to thank you for the honor done me ; and I beg 
leave to make my grateful acknowledgments to this distinguished company for their 
generous greetings. 

Certainly, the position belongs not to me, but I obey the call, and, in discharging the 
honorable trust assigned me, I ask your kind indulgence. 

We are assembled to celebrate a day of happy omen to the friends of civil liberty 
throughout Christendom, to commemorate the Anniversary of the Birthday of the 
Illustrious Washington : 

"The world's great master and his own." (Applause.) 

It is well that we are here. Manifestations of attachment to our common country 
and her free institutions are at all times a gratifying spectacle, but in this hour of 
national solicitude they are of uncommon interest and full of hope. Verily the spirits of 



4: Repiihlican Union Festival. 

our forefathers hover over us, and the father of his country looks clown upon us with 
approbation, for we are come together in the name of the Union, so truly dear to us, 
never to be divided. [Loud cheers.) 

We meet, too, for mutual congratulations on the approaching downfall of the most 
causeless and wicked rebellion the world ever knew. The good tidings that have reached 
us from the Carolinas, from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, conveying the brilliant 
exploits of the army and navy — now moving like an avalanche, carrying victory in 
their paths — gladdens our hearts, strengthens our faith, and excites our enthusiasm. 
[Applause.) 

All honor to our gallant heroes. Their deeds and daring shall be remembered and 
cherished by an admiring and grateful people. Encircled with glory shall be their 
names in the Temple of Liberty, for sacrifices so great, and services so efficient rendered 
the nation in the hour of advci'sity. 

What a spectacle our country now presents ! With an army of more than six hun- 
dred thousand men in the field ; with a navy powerful and eff'ective ; with resources in 
abundance; we are, moreover, feeding the famine-stricken nations of the world, and 
thereby putting them under bonds to keep the peace. [Cheers.) 

As our gallant men go forth by land and by sea, imbued with the sentiments and 
interests of the farm, and the shop, and the counting-house ; so they will carry back to 
those fields of industry the military and naval accomplishments there acquired. In 
peace they were taught to prize their rights, and in war they learn to defend them. 
Thus shall we teach every nation to value our friendship and dread our enmity. 

Nevertheless, the times demand renewed energy, courage, grit. Napoleon was right 
when he said, " Leave sensibility to women, but men should be firm in heart and pur- 
pose, or they should have nothing to do with war and government." 

On this auspicious day, at least, and especially in times like the present, it is fitting 
calmly to recur to the principles of the founders of the Republic. 

To cherish most fervently the exalted doctrines of 17*76, asset forth in the Declaration 
of Lidependence. 

To declare our firm devotion to the great principles of liberty stamped upon the 
ordinance of \1S'l. 

To venerate the Constitution of the LTnited States, in all its parts, with all its obli- 
gations and all its blessings. 

To adhere inflexibly to the Union of the States, one and inseparable. 

To arouse and foster a spirit of genuine and fervid patriotism among the people. 

To inculcate the noble principles of the Father of his Country bequeathed to us as 
his parting legacy. 

To assert, with Washtngtoi^, " Let us have a government by which our lives, liber- 
ties, and prosperities shall be secure. If defective, let it be amended, but not suff"ered 
to be trampled upon while it has an existence." [Applause.) 

Let private einoluments and personal honors give place to whatever is most essential 
and best for the cause of freedom and the perpetuity of a free Constitution ; and if, in 
the Providence of God and the progress of events, the 2^eculiar institution falls, then, 
like Lucifer, let it fall to rise no more. [Tremendous applause.) Already the lamenta- 
tion of its votaries has gone forth : " The thorns I have reaped are of the tree I 
planted. They have torn me, and I bleed." 

Forgetful of past jealousies, and bickerings, and petty feuds, let us here and now, 
once more, renew our vows of unceasing devotion to our common country. 



Mr. CowdirbS Speech. 5 

Macaulay says : " No men occupy so splendid a place in history as those who have 
founded monarchies on the ruin of republican institutions." Heaven forbid that such 
splendor should ever dazzle the eyes or excite the ambition of American citizens. [Cheers.) 

I cannot but believe that the Federal Union is destined to outlive every vicissitude, 
and bear up against far greater shocks than it has yet encountered. Its foundation is 
laid upon public justice, public virtue, and public liberty, and though for a time it may 
encounter great peril, and suffer momentary eclipse, thank God, it possesses a recupera- 
tive power in the hearts of millions of freemen, who will restore its wonted repose and 
inaugurate a new era of National greatness. But, as good citizens, we must rise to the 
height of this great occasion, and do our duty. Indifference and repose are unpardon- 
able, aye, criminal, when the very existence of the nation is assailed. We should be 
recreants and dastards of the basest stamp, if we did not defend — resolutely, unitedly, 
and to the last — the institutions which Washington inaugurated — the most beneficent 
in the history of mankind. [A2rplause.) 

Finally, fellow-citizens, let me conjure you to stand by the Government; it is the 
guardian of your liberties — of your wealth — of your strength. Stand by the Presi- 
dent — he is able, faithful, honest. [Cheers.) Stand by the army — it is strong, devoted, 
invincible. Stand by the navy — it is powerful, efficient, triumphant. Listen to no 
reconciliation and talk not of peace, until every rebel, by an unconditional surrender, 
has laid down his arms. [Cheers.) Then may justice be done. But let the first con- 
dition of adjustment be the unqualified admission by all, that the Constitution and 
Laws are supreme and the Union indissoluble. [Loud applause.) 

" By our altars pure and free ; 
By our law's deep-rooted tree ; 
By the past's dread memory ; 
By our Washington ; 
By our common kindred tongue ; 
By our hopes, bright, buoyant, young ; 
By our ties of country strong ; 

We will still be one !" 

The President concluded his opening address amid enthusiastic applause. 
Music — " The Star Spangled Banner." 

The Chairman said, I rise to propose the toast which is first upon our list, as it is 
uppermost in our hearts. 

1. Our Country ; In peace or in war, still our Country, to be cherished with all our 
hearts, and defended with all our hands. 

Music — " Yankee Doodle." 

The President said the second regular toast is one which needs no comment from me. 

2. The President of the United States. 

This was greeted with loud and continued cheering. 

Music— "llail to the Chief." 

The Chairman then announced that, in reply to invitations to be present, letters had 
been received from the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of 
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States, and others, a part of which 
would now be read. He called upon Mr. Henry H. Huelet, to read those of Messrs. 
Seward, Chase, and Sumner, which are as follows : 



Republican Union Festival. 



Secretary Seward's Letter. 

Depahtment of State. \ 

Washingtox, Feb. 18, 18G2. ) 
Elliot C. Coivdin, Esq , Nev) York : 

Dear Sir : I have had the honor of receiving the note, in which you have invited 
me to attend a Union festival to be celebrated on the approaching anniversary of the 
birth of Washington. 

It would be a source of great satisfaction to me to meet the people of New York on 
so interesting an occasion. But Congress has instituted similar ceremonies to be 
obsers'ed at this Capital, and has made my attendance upon them an official duty. I 
need not say that in my heart, and mind, and soul, I approve these proposed 
observances. Disloyal citizens have seized upon that great anniversary to pervert it to 
a more complete organization of the conspiracy for the overthrow of the Union of which 
Washington was the founder, and for the betrayal of the people' of the United States 
back again to the foreign yoke which the hand of Washington smote and broke. Ma}^ 
we not hope that the mighty shade of the Father of his Country will be allowed to look 
down from its rest on that day devoted to his memory, and say which of the two are, 
indeed, dutiful children — those who are engaged in the destruction of that country, so 
blessed of God above all other lands, or those who have committed themselves to its 
salvation. 

I am, dear Sir, yours, very faithfully, 

William II. Seward. 

Secretary Chase's Letter. 

"Washington, Feb. 20, 18G2. 

Sir: Most gladly would I unite with the citizens of New York in celebrating the 
anniversary of the Birthday of Washington, could I leave, even for such a purpose, 
my post of duty at this time ; but I must remain here. 

The celebration which you propose, and similar celebrations spontaneously springing 
from the same impulse, all over tlie country, justify the hope that the memory of 
Washington, ever living in the hearts of his countrymen, will lend an appropriate 
inspiration to all our endeavors to restore the Union, which he contributed so much to 
establish. We need that inspiration. We need for the trials of these days his firmness, 
his patience, liis disinterestedness, his true courage, his lofty sense of justice, his enlight- 
ened zeal for impartial freedom. These are the virtues, wdiich, exercised in such degree 
as men are capable of, will not only restore the LTnion, but reestablish it in more than 
its pristine vigor, compactness, and beneficence. 

Yours, very truly, S. P. Chase, 

Elliot C. Cowdin, Esq., etc. 

Senator Sumner's Letter. 

Senate Cuamber, 19th Feb.. 18G2. 
My dear Sir : I should be glad to be with you at your Festival of the 22d February, 
but my duties will keep me here. 

Let us honor the memory of Washington, but sincerely honoring him, w^e cannot 
become indifferent to those great principles of Human Freedom, consecrated by his life, 
'and by the solemn act of his Last Will and Testament, 

Ever sincerely yours, Charles Sumnkr. 

Elliot C. Cowdin, Esq. 

The third regular toast. 

3. The Governor of the State of Neiv York. 

This was a signal for much applause. 

A letter from His Excellency Governor Morgan was then read. 



Letters from Govs. Morgan^ Ourtin^ and Sprague. 



Gov. Morgan's Letter. 

Executive Department, ) 

Albany, Feb. 21, 1862. \ 

Sir: I have received your letter of the 14th inst., inviting me to attend a Union 
Festival at Irving Hall, to be held on the approaching anniversary of the birthday of 
Washington. 1 am compelled to say, in reply, that official engagements here will 
deprive me of the pleasure of accepting your kind invitation. 

The 22d of February should always be a holiday to be kept and celebrated in a 
becoming manner, but there are reasons now, not hitherto existing, for more jubilant 
rejoicings. Nor can any one, at this time, read Washington's Farewell Address 
attentively without a deeper and a more abiding impression than ever before of the 
wisdom of that Patriot and Statesman. Let, then, his warning voice, as well as his 
glorious deeds, be ever remembered and cherished, his brilliant example be everywhere 
followed, and let this Union be prized and adhered to, not only for the benefits and 
blessings it has conferred in its past history, but for the richer glories and triumphs 
which lie in the future. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

Mr. Elliot C. Cowdin, etc. E. D. Morgan. 

The President said — I hold in my hand two other letters, to which I invite your 
attention. They are from Governors of neighboring States, who, like our own Chief 
Magistrate, have evinced untiring devotion to the Union, and have rendered sio-nal 
service to the Government. One is from Gov. Curtix, of Pennsylvania, and the other 
from Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island. 

Gov. Curtin's Letter. 

Pennsylvania Executive Chamber, ) 
IIaerisburgii, Penn., Feb. 19, 1862. ) 

Dear Sir : I have your letter of the 15th, inviting me to attend the Union Festival 
in New York on the 22d of this month. I shall on that day be engaged in the cele- 
bration of the festival in the metropolis in which the Declaration of Independence was 
adopted, and where was the home of Washington during the period of his civil 
service. 

It will, therefore, be impossible for me to be present in New York, in accordance 
with your invitation. 

It has pleased the Almighty so to shape events, that our brave and loyal men have 
been at last permitted to move in earnest; and thus in the approaching anniversary of 
the birthday of Washington, we shall at once refresh our memories of that patriot 
and sage, and glory in the certainty of the speedy overthrow of the monstrous rebel- 
lion, which for so many months has been rampant among the besotted and benighted 
people of a portion of our country. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, with much respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

A. G. Curtin. 
Elliot C. Cowdin, Esq., Chairman, &c., &c. 

Gov. Spr ague's Letter. 

State op Rhode Island, &c., Executive ) 

Department, Providence, Feb. 20, 18d2. \ 

Dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation of the 

loth. I cannot be present to address your Committee at their "Union Festival" on 

the 22d inst., and no letter could enhance the pleasnre of the occasion. The recent 

success of our arms furnishes abundant cadse for congratulation aud rejoicing. I take 



8 Hepuhlican Union Festival. 

pride in assuring you that the people of Rhode Island will unanimously join with the 
patriotic observers of this day. My presence with them requires that I should accept 
of no invitations away from my own home. I observe with pleasure the name under 
which you assemble. 

Let the Union of these divided States be uppermost in your councils and first in 
your prayers. 

Strive for the preservation of the Constitution. I know of no shelter so secure for 
the liberties of the people, no asylum where their rights can be more zealously guarded, 
no method more safe by which the blessings of free government which we have enjoyed 
can be transmitted to our children and our posterity. 

I beg you will assure your Committee that, although unable to be with them, my 
interest in the cause, and the object of their meeting, is still warm and active. 

With sincere good wishes, 
I am, my dear Sir, your obedient servant, 

Wm. Sprague. 

To Elliot C. Cowdin, Esq., &c. 

The fourth regular toast, 

4. The Mayor of the City of New York was received with loud applause. Mr. Jas. 
M. Tiiomson proposed three cheers for the Hon. C4eorge Opdyke, which were enthusias- 
tically given. Tlie chair remarked that His Honor, Mayor Opdyke, would have been 
present, but for duties elsewhere connected with the celebration of this anniversary. 

The fifth regular toast, 

5. The Character of Washinyton — It possessed a power to rally a nation in an 
hour of disaster; amid the storm of war it cheered and guided the country's friends ; it 
flamed, too, like a meteor to repel her foes ; in peace it commanded a nation's confidence 
and the world's respect. 

The President said — This sentiment will be responded to by one distinguished for his 
services in the cause of religion and education, and equally so for his devotion to our 
free institutions. I invite your attention to the Rev. Dr. Hitchcock. 

Speech of Professor Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D. 

Mr. President : — I have learned several things as I have been sitting here this 
evening. From a recent outburst of applause, I infer that none of you voted for 
Fernando Wood at the last municipal election. I have also concluded that you like 
" Old Abe" very well, and do not like Slavery. And, furthermore, it is pretty plain to 
me by this time [the hall 'was now quite fall of ciyar smoke^ that you not only mean 
to maintain the integrity of the old Union, but that you are already annexing Cuba, or 
Havana at any rate, to our domain. (Applause.) 

By some oversight, as the Committee assured me, I had late notice of my expected 
appearance here to-night. The very civil gentleman who brought me at once the invi- 
tation and the apology, tried to persuade me that it made no great diff"erence, since I 
was desired to speak to the Memory of Washington, " and that, you know, is so easy." 
"So easy/" It reminded me of the New England deacon, who had an itching to 
preach, and, after giving his minister a good deal of trouble about the matter, was at 
length permitted to make the attempt. The good man broke down very near the 
beginning of his discourse, and cut short his unlucky experiment by stammering out: 
"Beloved brethren, I used to think it was a mighty easy thing to preach. If any of 
you think so, I advise you to come up here and try." If your Committee-man, or any- 
body else, thinks it so easy to speak of Washington, let him try it. (Cheers.) 



I 



Speech of Professor Roswell D. Hitchcock^ D.D. 9 

Seriously, Mr. President and gentlemen, -whether on short notice or on long notice, I 
legard it as anything but easy to speak to the memory of this peerless man. Many 
doquent tongues have attempted this familiar theme, and still the theme remains 
defiant of them all. So free was the character of Washington from everything pro- 
tu'oerant and jagged, so admirably balanced were all his faculties, so complete, rounded 
out, and even, the whole genius of the man, that the handling of his character is like the 
grasping of a large and highly polished ivory ball. In all my studies I encounter no 
sucL miracle of Providence. When I think of what he was, and of what he accom- 
plished for us, I dare not boast of him as the product of our soil and of our institutions. 
I ani as proud as any man of our Continent, and proud of the Republic, but I dare not 
claim for them the credit of such a harvest. He who was " first in war, first in peace, 
and first in the hearts of his countrymen," is vastly' more to me than the great 
American ; he is the great Man of all the races and of all the ages. I hail him, more 
in gratitude than in pride, as the gift of God to our nation, sent rather from above than 
from amongst us, to be our one pattern man and pattern Republican for all coming 
time. God be thanked, then, let us all say, God be thanked, for the glorious Memory 
of Washington ! * 

Met now to celebrate his birth, let us be warned against incurring the just and bitter 
condemnation of those who garnish the sepulchres of their Prophets, while they 
neglect their teachings. The President of the United States, in this hour of our 
national distress, did wisely in inviting the clergy of the land to open their houses of 
worship to-day for the reading of Washington's Farewell Address to his Countrymen. 
I have not been able to take part in any of these public services, but twice during the 
day have I read over carefully by myself, in the retirement of my study, this incom- 
parable document. Of course I had read it before, as we all have many times perhaps, 
but to-day I have read it with an astonishment and an admiration, which I can hardly 
express. I am stariled to find it so prescient. The duties it enjoins upon us, are pre- 
cisely the most needed lessons of the day and the hour. The evils against which it 
warns us, are precisely the evils which are now upon us, clutching at our throats. I 
am sure I cannot do you a better service than by reviewing briefly the leading points 
of this remarkable Address. Four points are specially prominent. 

1st. Our attitude towards foreign nations. We are solemnly warned against all 
foreign entanglements, whether of alliance or of hostility. We are neither insanely to 
hate England, nor insanely to love France. They are on one side of the Atlantic, and 
we on the other. There let them stay, and mind their own business, while we stay 
here and mind our own business. As a nation we have been altogether too sensitive 
in regard to the opinions and doings of other nations. For a long time we cherished 
bitter memories of England. Quite recently the tide was turned. The Prince of 
Wales, for his mother's sake and for his own, was showered with our eager and 
generous benedictions in every city and in every hamlet through which he passed from 
the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the Mississippi back again to- tlie- Atlantic. 
England in his person asked us to be her friend and ally in the troublous times which 
are perhaps before her ; and we answered. Yes, we will. That bond is new broken, if 
not by the English people, at all events by the English government. Its selfish, one- 
sided, misnamed neutrality has stung us to the quick. We do not regret the lavish 
hospitalities of a little more than a year ago ; we still bless the widowed' Queen, whose 
honored husband served us with his dying hand ; but against the scornful aristocracy, 
of England we have closed our bosoms as with bars of steel. They have had their 



10 ^^^IP Republican Union Festival. 

choice, and now let them abide by it. We meditate, I trust, no revenge. But fror.i 
this hour onwatds they must tread their OAvn path of destiny, while we tread ouis. 
The lesson has been a painful one, but worth' all its cost. Henceforth we obey the 
early mandate of our Washington. We shake ourselves clear of all foreign entangle- 
ments. W^e wrap ourselves in the mantle of our own institutions, our own traditions, 
our own ideas, our own interests, and stand here erect and solid on our own continent 
to work out our own salvation. We thank Russia for her generous sympathy, and we 
hail her rising power as destined to divide with us the real empire of the future; but 
we ask no help, as we dread no rivalry. From this time forward we wish to be, and 
mean to be, only Americans. (Cheers.) 

2nd. Another point of equally vital moment, is Union amongst ourselves. First, as 
against geographical divisions and rivalries; and equally as against the spirit of party, 
imperilling the public weal. Our government is not a loose confederation, but a com- 
pact, organic, close Union of the States. For ten years (from 1777 to 1787), our 
Fathers had ample trial of the principle of Confederation, and then sent it to the tomb 
of the Capulets. There let it rest, with no resurrection trumpet ever sounding its 
recall. Our nationality is no artificial, dead conglomerate of independent, sovereigr. 
parts, but an organic, living, puissant body, knit limb to limb. This is the doctrine 
which we are now proclaiming in the hoarse thunder of battle over the land and over 
the sea. Our territory is a unit, made so by the hand of the Almighty, when our, 
mountains were heaved to their place, and our rivers had their channels cut for them. 
This unity we mean to keep, maintaining it, if need be, against the world in arms. 
Over this undivided, indivisible heritage, purchased for us by the valor of our sires, we 
have sworn that no flag shall ever wave but our own dear old flag of the Stripes and 
the Stars, rendered more and more dear to us by every fresh baptism of blood. Terri- 
torial dismemberment is nothing less than national assassination, which we mean to 
resist to our last dollar and our last man. The West is ours, not less than the East; the 
South, not less than the North ; and we intend to hold them all together in the name of 
liberty and order. If foreign intervention threatens us, we shall beat it back. If 
domestic rebellion lifts its hateful front, we shall strike it down. The cotton fields of 
South Carolina must be for ever ours, if we have to sow them with salt. The mouth of 
the Mississippi must be for ever ours, if we have to keep it for alligators. This issue 
was not clear to us at first. Before Sumter was fired upon, multitudes amongst us, 
lovers of peace and freedom, honestly believed that there was nothing left for us but to 
endure dismembermen.t. We had then no proper sense of nationality. But the angry 
roar of Beauregard's artillery, in the twinkling of an eye, changed all that. The thun- 
der which was designed -simply to detach the border States from their old allegiance, 
and to shake them 'down into the lecherous arms of the Confederacy, in the good 
.Providence of God ihad quite another office to discharge in rousing the nation from its 
«tupid slumber. At that call, the giant started to his feet, and with one impatient 
stamp shook the continent from sea to sea. Six hundred thousand men are now follow- 
ing the bugles of victory, and will not turn back till they have planted the flag of the 
Union in every rebellious State. (Great applause.) 

But it is not enough that we save the Union. We must save it as patriots, and not 
as partisans. You, gentlemen, are Republicans. What I have been, and am, is no 
concern of yours. I address you to-night as an American. And I warn you solemnly 
against going into this holy war as Republicans. Go into it only as Americans, and 
with all your might. Praise no General becaiiee he has been a Republican. Criticise 



Speech of Professor Eoswell D. Hitchcock, D.D. 11 

no General because he has been a Democrat. "Praise only the General, whether Re- 
publican or Democrat, who reaches the enemy by the shortest cut, and deals him the 
heaviest blow. (Great applause.) 

3rd. Washington also exhorts us earnestly to maintain the credit of the nation. Find 
out what your honest debts are, and then make prompt and ample provision for their pay- 
ment. On this point I need not enlarge. The people are already inspired with the proper 
sentiment in regard to this matter. While they make short work with greedy, unscru- 
pulous contractors, they mean to fight this battle through with honest fists, and then 
settle the bills without grumbling. Their voice to the government is, " Spare no neces- 
sary expense, only fight this rebellion dead, and you may tax us to the very bottom of 
our pockets." (Cheers.) 

4th. Finally, and most important of all, we are reminded that intelligence and virtue 
are the pillars of our Republic. Without morality, we are told, there can be no free- 
dom and no prosperity ; and without religion there can be no morality. These are the 
golden lessons of the hour. The South is now in rebellion because it has been demo- 
ralized ; and demoralized to a large extent because its ministers of religion have been so 
scandalously false to the proper genius of the Gospel. The whole land needs evange- 
lizing on a scale not yet realized. The future is big with responsibilities, which are 
destined to tax our faith and our patience to their utmost. Let us gird ourselves for 
this gigantic, momentous labor. We stand here in the breach not only for ourselves, 
and for our children, but for all mankind. Upon our shoulders is laid the task of build- 
ing up here a noble Christian Republic, the light of whose example shall be for the 
guidance of all the nations of the earth. 

But there remains another topic, on which I cannot be silent without being utterly 
false to the very spirit of the occasion which has now called us together. A topic 
ignored in the Address of Washington, as it is ignored also in our Constitution. But 
not ignored by Washington in his last w'ill and testament, in which he gave freedom to 
his bondmen ; nor ignored in the Constitution because of any want of fidelity to the 
rights of man. Washington regarded slavery as a curse and a sin. So likewise did 
the framers of onr Constitution. They permitted, indeed, its continuance as a local 
institution, supported by local legislation. But they studiously excluded it from the 
great charter of our nationality, looking forward confidently to the time when it should 
go down out of our system, as we trust the last of the piratical craft of the Confederates 
will soon go down before our loyal cannon, and leave in an hour no bubble to mark the 
spot. Since then there has been a great apostasy. Slavery, instead of being merely 
tolerated for a season, is now embraced and eulogized as a Divine and beneficent insti- 
tution ; and we of the North are called upon to leap down into the same abyss of 
apostasy and shame. We will do no such thing. We stand by the better doctrine of 
our fathers. Slavery we denounce as a cruel wrong to the black man, as a fatal cancer 
eating its way to the very vitals of the white man. As a local institution, destined 
eventually to be uprooted and disappear, we can give it tolerance. But as a political 
power, enthroned in our national Capital, and dictating our national policy, we have 
registered in heaven our oath that it shall no more have dominion over us. The Con- 
stitution, framed in the interest of freedom and not of slavery, we have sworn shall be 
administered in the interest of freedom. No more slave territory, is now emblazoned 
upon our banner, never to be erased. AVliat territory it now has, slavery may keep and 
curse, if it will ; but it shall snatch no more. And what it has we will hem in closer 
and closer with free soil tilled by free men, till it shall be like the scorpion begirt with 



12 JRejmhliccm Union Festival. 

fire. This is all we ask for. We counsel no violence to tlie provisions of our present 
Constitution. We pray for no better Constitution. We are altogether content •with the 
Constitution as it is. Our single demand is, that it be administered in the spirit of its 
framers. Then shall we be insured against the hatching of another such rebellion as 
this, against which we are now in arms. Then may we anticipate the time, not. far 
remote, when slavery itself shall be shaken from our bosom like a nightmare dream. 
(Renewed cheers.) 

The sixth regular toast : — 

6. The Union — "The main pillar in the edifice of your real independence : the sup- 
port of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad ; of your safety ; of your pros- 
perity ; of that very liberty wliich you so highly prize." 

The President said — I have great pleasure in coupling with this' toast the name of 
one, who, by his voice, his pen, and his untiring devotion, has rendered signal service 
to the Union, and to its brave defenders. I present to you the Rev. Dr. Bellows, Pre- 
sident of the United States Sanitary Commission. (Applause.) 

Speech of Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D. 

Rev. Dr. Bellows responded. He said that the Union was a fact, and a very tough 
fact. The natural features of our country could not destroy its geographical integrity. 
The Almighty had established such geographical connections and relations between 
the parts of this country, shutting us between the lakes and the Gulf, and extending us 
from ocean to ocean, that this geographical fact cannot bo lost sight of, and must be 
deferred to and respected. The Union, too, was an ethnological fact. We were one 
people. We Avere of one blood and one lineage, and one language ; and by this rela- 
tions and communications, aff"ections, sympathies, intercourse, inter-marriages had been 
established between the various parts of this country. Our very difficulties were the 
very things wliich bound us together. The very fact that we understand each other's 
censure, and hear our sentiments hurled back to us in the same language, is the very 
reason that we are so much exasperated against one anotlier. It was because we were 
brothers, and because this is a family quarrel, having all the animosity of a family 
quarrel. But they could not divide this people. Slavery, black as it was, and hateful 
and accursed as it was, had not the power to separate that which God, ethnologically 
and by identity of language, had united together. (^Applause.) Then, too, the Union 
was a great economical fact. We were united by commercial and industrial relations 
in such a way that the country could not be broken up. It was a curious f^ct, to be 
observed about this time, that the Stocks of the disloyal States grew better and stronger 
in our market for every thrashing we gave them. The moment we had a victory, 
makino- the fact more ai)parent that the rebel States could not get out of the Union, it 
caused a rise in stock of the rebel States. That fact spoke louder than any other. 
When England saw that a victory which tended to demolish the rebels made their own 
property the more valuable, he would like to see what England would think of that. 
The Union was also a great political fact. We had political antecedents ; we had a 
Constitution ; we had aft'ectionate memories of our fathers who created it. AVe had 
solemn oaths registered in Heaven of fidelity to that Constitution. That Constitution 
was solemnly rooted in the whole history of the country, and it was destined to keep 
us one people, and as to the Slavery question, if there was a mighty Anti-Slavery docu- 
ment in the world, it was the Constitution of the United States. [Applause.) What 



Speech of William M. Eoarts, Esq. 13 

was this rebellion ? It was a rebellion against the Constitution, because it would not 
strengthen, and extend, and give political power to Slavery ! What had made this 
wicked rebellion, but the simple fact that in this country, faithful to the Constitution 
for long years, (luring which the Constitution had been interpreted in behalf of Slavery, 
in the course of events, in the charge of those who wielded the power of the Govern- 
raent, the Constitution came to receive its natural interpretation, unfavorable to Slavery? 
The rebellion arose because the Constitution was an Anti-Slavery document from the 
moment that the political majority was enabled to interpret it in the interests of liberty. 
It was a most formidable battery — a most tremendous agency, against which nobody 
could say a word. They should so press it that it should do its whole work, and if he 
was not very much mistaken in the character of the people, whatever party should raise 
its head and endeavor to stay our hand by an effort to make a false peace, before the 
war had done its work, and this Constitution had been fully sped to its home, would be 
entirely put down by the moral sense of the people. The Union, too, was a great 
moral fact. It had become imbedded in the mind and had shaped the intellect of the 
people. It had become the expression of their hopes and desires in a political direc- 
tion. It was also a great spiritual fact. There was intrusted to us a sacred duty to 
vindicate free institutions, and to turn that dreadful tide of reaction which, for the last 
few years, had been apparent, by which free institutions had been read backward. In 
conclusion the speaker alluded to the effect which had been produced abroad by 
American history, and of the false estimate that was formed of our institutions, as to 
their permanency, by reason of the sraallness of our army and navy in times of peace. 
He gave the following toast : — 

The Union — The land and the waters, mountains and rivers, lineage and language, 
laws and Constitution, interests and instinct, affection and passion, duty and destiny, all 
cry out against its dissolution, and proclaim it perpetual. [Ai^i^lausc.) 

The seventh regular toast. 

Y. The Constitution of the United States : — With all its privileges and blessings, may 
it be perpetuated to the latest posterity. (^Applause.) 

The Chairman remarked : — I beg to associate with this sentiment the name of 
William M. Evarts, Esq., a gentleman to whom we all delight to listen. (Loud cheers.) 

Speech of William M. Evarts, Esq. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen : It is my good fortune, by the kind invitation of 
5'our committee, to take part now, for the third time, in the celebration of this great 
national festival, under the auspices of the Republican Association ; and the three occa- 
sions, including the present, are at three notable stages in the great national transaction for 
the inauguration of which, in support of the constitution, and for the triumphant main- 
tenance of the constitution through which the Rupublican party is, in my judgment, 
mainly responsible. [Applause.) We celebrated the day in 1860, in advance of the Re- 
publican nomination for the Presidency, which had for its purpose to defend the Constitu- 
tion against the encroachment of a great State interest, that was striving to impress a local 
institution upon the national life and character. We succeeded in the election, under the 
peaceful forms of the Constitution, and had transferred the power of the government 
from the faction that had so long wielded it, to hands that were faithful to the spirit of 
the Constitution. [Applause.) We celebrated this anniversary in 1861, in the waning 
months of the Administration of Mr. Buchanan, in the very midnight of the gloom 



1-i JRejpuhUcan Union Festival. 

which prevailed over this country, from the period of the election of Mr. Lincoln, 
until the guns of Sumter proclaimed the breaking day. [Applause.) A military rebel- 
lion was planned and threatened, and had commenced the revolt which since has made 
such head. We celebrate it now, sir, when the armed rebellion has assumed its fullest 
proportions — whea the power of the country has been raised against it, — and whea 
the declining fortunes of treason announce that, soon, reinstated and re-established, the 
Constitution will resume its sway over the whole territory of the Republic. [Loud 
Applause.) Mr. President, it was the Constitution as our fathers framed it, before tlie 
rebellion broke out; it is the same Constitution while the rebellion rages; — and it will 
be the same Constitution when the rebellion is over, [Ajyj^lausc.) And, without lay- 
ing any stress upon the great topics of popular liberty, and of national strength and 
pride, which have been aimed at, at least, in other political constitutions, let us under- 
stand that the vital and peculiar principle of our Constitution is, that a great nation can 
be formed, with the strength of government and its fund of power so distributed as not 
to be an overmatch for the freedom of the people — that a nation can be constituted 
powerful enough to maintain itself in the family of nations, and to secure to its citizens 
the honor, respect, and protection which only a mighty nationality can command, and 
yet, by the division of the great fund of power essential to government, between the 
general and the local administration, the people can be protected in their freedom, and 
secured in the management of their every-day interests by representation, neither 
remote from them, nor insensible to every duty to them, 

Mr. President, the first essential safeguard of this distribution of powers is, that the 
General Government shall deal only with that which is common and national, and the 
State Government shall have the exclusive administration of what is local and peculiar. 
The struggle, under such a distribution of power, constantly is, or constantly may be, for 
local institutions and interests, to strive to force themselves into National life and 
character; and, on the other hand, for the General Government to establish rules and 
laws for domestic institutions and interests, which its policy and its purpose, as the 
policy and the purpose of the majority of the Nation, may suggest. I hold that the funda- 
mental principle of the Repulican party, — the key-note of its political purpose and action, — 
has been, and is, to oppose this invasion by domestic aud peculiar interests, of the domain 
of National power. [Applause.) To stop the encroachment of slavery, and to destroy 
the political power of slavery, was the purpose and end, and will be to the last, as 
thus far it has been, the success of the Republican party. According to the experience 
of the Nation, when, by the suffrage under the Constitution, we had placed a Republi- 
can Administration in Washington, we had accomplished our political purpose, and 
secured the triumph of our principles. The Ballot, which our Constitution decreed 
should be the final arbiter in political controversies, had placed the control of the 
Government in our hands. But, a strange novelty in our affairs, an appeal was taken to 
arms; and we, the people of this country, have been obliged to try over again, by the 
bullet, and the bayonet, those questions which the will of the Nation had settled by the 
ballot. The Constitution is to be maintained — and it is always and in all things to be 
maintained — and when that question has been settled by the absolute suppression of 
the rebellion and the peaceful resumption of the dominion of the laws, then, but not 
till then, the triumph is complete. 

And, now, Mr. President, allow me to say, that the Constitution is equally concerned, 
and the maintenance of our liberties and our power is equally concerned, that the 
invasion by the General Govermnent of the sphere of local and domestic institutions 



Speech of William, 21. Evarts, Esq. 15 

and interests, shall never be permitted. It will be found tliat the good Ship of the 
Constitution has hco broad sides, equally well armed, and whose thunders alike are 
sleepless when danger threatens. [Loud applause.) Whenever danger comes, as it 
has done, from local or State interests striving to control the Federal Government, wc 
have a broadside for the enemy in that quarter ; and whenever the rage of the contest 
seeks to make the struggle revolutionary, and to carry the Federal Government into a 
suppression of the clear right of the States to the control of their domestic legislation^ 
it will be found that the other broadside of the Constitution has as many tiers of guns, 
of as heavy metal, and with ammunition as effective, as when it was bearing upon its 
enemy on the other quarter. (Applause.) We are attached to our government, wc 
know that it will bear the stress to which it is now subjected, and, in the future, we fear 
not but that it will outride every storm. Therefore, all fears and alarms that because 
we are sustaining the Constitution against one hostile power, we shall, by the zeal of the 
contest, be carried beyond the lines of duty, and press this war into a revolutionary 
interference with what the Constitution attributes to State control, are, in my judgment, 
wholly vain. 

But, gentlemen, a word as to the Constitution and its relations to slavery as rising in 
this war. In the first place, with all the reading that I have been able to give to the 
Constitution, I have never been able to see, that, beyond a single clause in it of very 
narrow application, there was the least obligation, or the least duty, in regard to the 
protection or maintenance of slaver)^ anywhere. (Applause.) We have, undoubted!)', a 
constitutional provision and duty, that in a certain specific case, where slavery presents 
itself outside of the State in which it prevails as a domestic institution, it shall be remanded 
to its home, there to be dealtt with. I refer, of course, to the fugitive slave clause of the 
Constitution. We have another provision, generally referred to as having some concern 
with slavery, which obliges the Federal Government to assist loyal State authorities io 
suppressing insurrections, too great for their own power to subdue. But that provision, 
gentlemen, applies to an insurrection of free white men, just as much as to an insurrec- 
tion of black slaves; to an insurrection in Massachusetts, just as much as to an insurrec- 
tion in South Carolina. It is in matter of general concern that the civil structure of the 
State shall not be overthrown by an armed rebellion, too powerful for the resources of 
the State to put down. ' Indeed, the only occasions, in our constitutional history, where 
this power of the Federal Government has been invoked, have been to suppress seditious 
combinations of white men in the free States of the country. Now, gentlemen, men 
think differently, in dealing with the subject of slavery, as to the end at which they 
should begin. Many men, enlightened, public-spirited, earnest, and zealous, think that 
the social structure of slavery must be undermined, in order to overthrow its encroach- 
ing political power. My own judgment and feeling have always been, that the political 
power of slavery must first be overthrown, in order that its social structure may be 
undermined. It is our duty to see to it that slavery gains not one ounce of strength, not 
one day of duration by any added support of the Federal Government. (Aiyplause.) 

But, that duty dischai'ged, it is our further duty to leave slavery to the disintegration 
and destruction, which, thus thrown back and made a domestic and local institution, 
domestic and local control of it must, of necessity, occasion. The power of the Federal 
Government is what has kept it alive in many of the States of the Union, and gives it 
strength in all where it still maintains itself. In that, the free states have been guilty. 
But they have repented, and they have brought forth fruits meet for repentance. They 
no longer sustain or protect it. And just as surely as the weight of the Federal Govern- 



16 Republican Union Festival. 

menl, thrown into the scale of slavery, hitherto has influenced politics in the free states, 
and made them pro-slavery in sentiment and in action, jnst as surely will the power and 
patronage of the Federal Government, when engaged on the side of free principles, 
make the slave states anti-slavery. But it will do it without injury to the text or to | 
the spirit of the Constitution ; — correcting its bad support of a feeble and enfeebling 
institution, it will leave it to the processes which its own society will provide for its 
destruction. Why should we consider slavery, when robbed of its political strength 
and driven to depend upon its own merit, and its own ui aided forces, a dangerous insti- 
tution ? To whom is it dangerous ? Look at the states on which it turns its fond 
gaze and upon which it bestows its smiles; and look at the states on which, retreating, 
it turns back its frowns. No, gentlemen, believe me, the favor of slavery is a false, a 
meretricious favor, and, as of every other harlot, it is its love and not its hate that should 
inspire fear, and its rage inflicts no wounds so deep as its caresses. (^Applause.) 

Gentlemen, we are fighting, and we arc fighting for the Constitution. War, to sustain 
the Constitution, however diflerent from peace in its methods, is just as constitutional. 
It is always constitutional to support the Constitution by such measures and by such 
weapons as are necessary to repel the force that is brought against it. And while this 
constitutional war lasts, its forces, its blows, shall not be withheld, not averted, not 
parried by the Constitution, but shall fall with whatever shattering force they may upon 
the institution of slavery ; and whatever slave war makes free, peace, restored, shall 
never re-enslave. [Ap2}lause.) Go on with your war. It falls upon the guilty authors 
of the rebellion — the slaveholding aristocracy of the South, {Renewed applause.) Let 
it fall, with all its weight, upon the bad stimulant of their unholy passions — the institu- 
tion of slavery ; and when the war is over, whatever of slavery is left within the juris- 
diction of loyal state governments, will be dealt with by them. If the structure of 
society shall be so far broken by prolonged contumacy of rebellion, in any region, that 
a loyal state government cannot be found, or the materials of its rightful and safe con- 
struction cannot be gathered, then society, by necessity, falls under the protective control 
of the Federal government, and slavery, then, in common with all other institutions, will 
be directly dealt with. [Applause.) But, gentlemen, with good faith and an honest 
purpose, we will maintain the principles of the Constitution, and not in the zeal of the 
contest, or in the heat of our own resentments, or in the glow of our own just enthusi- 
asm for liberty, destroy the Constitution that this war is, on our part, raised to uphold. 
[Applause.) 

There has been a great deal of puzzle, gentlemen, about a certain matter in this war, 
when the progress of our arms brings us in contact with the black population of the 
South. A somewbat taking theory and phrase, that never seemed to me to be very 
sensible, were, early in the campaign, put forth by a distinguished general, which, 
putting slavery upon the ground of propertij, described the slaves as contraband of war. 
My view of the Constitution, in this connection, is this : that the slaves of the South 
are to the Constitution and to the Federal government but a part of the population of 
the South. [Applause.) And when treason defies the Government, and raises the 
flame of war, the Constitution knows but two descriptions of people — those that are 
loyal, and those that are rebel. [Loud applause.) And, weighed against the safety and 
protection of the lot/al slave, the lives and fortunes of a hnndred rebel masters are but 
dust in the balance. [App>lause) This proposition, so thorough and universal, arises 
under the laws of ivar — a constitutional war — and no enactment of Congress can add 
greater vigor of authority, or produce greater practical results, than an active exertion 
of these powqrs of war. 



Letter from Gen. Fremont. 17 

Mr. President, I believe I have said all that is necessary about the Constitution. I 
do not believe, as an eloquent gentleman has suggested to us, that it is altogether a 
matter of geography whether we maintain the Union and our federal Government or 
not. I think it depends a great deal more upon i\iQ people of the country, — upon their 
intelligence, upon their integrity, upon their virtue, upon their willingness, in sober and 
honest endurance, to bear the burdens that are necessary for the triumph of our cause. 
I believe, Mr. President, that we need to marshal the financial resources of the country 
with equal courage and wisdom — that we must pay taxes long-continued and heavy. 
As, too, I believe that this generation has been guilty of the desertions of public duty that 
have come so near overthrowing the great fabric of Government that our ancestors trans- 
mitted to us, I say that it is unjust and cowardly for us to put on our posterity the pay- 
ment for our sins. (^Applause.) I would like to know what manhood there is in saying, 
"We will defend against the dangers that our feeble and selfish politics have brought upon 
the noble heritage that our fathers prepared for us and future generations, but we will 
make our children pay the expenses of it." {Applause.) And we must insist upon it, 
that, with the same perseverance, the same fidelity, the same honest self-sacrifice, with 
which 'our fathers wrought for us, we will labor in this, the heat of our day, for our 
children. We must be honest. I say it, Mr. President, with profound sincerity, that, 
next to the crime of taking money to betray your country, in its danger, is the ofience 
of extorting money for defending it in its necessity. [Applause) I don't believe in that 
softness of phrase which makes it a crime to grow rich by the betrayal, and a happy 
fortune to grow rich out of the necessities, of the country. [Loud applause.) Let us see 
to it that a deep and firm public opinion makes itself felt upon this subject — felt by the 
Government, felt by the Cabinet, felt by the contractors, and felt by the people. [Ap- 
plause) 

Tlie eighth regular toast : — 

The Army and Navy. 

The President said — It was expected that we should have with us to-night, to 
respond to this toast, Maj. Gen. Fremont. (Tremendous cheering.) In reply to an 
invitation, he telegraphed two days since in these words : " I shall try to be with you 
at the time fixed." His engagements, however, have prevented his attendance. I hold 
in my hand a letter received from him this morning, and I invite your attention to the 
magnanimity which pervades it. 

Gen. Fremont's Letter. 
Elliot C. Cowdin, Esq. — 

My Dear Sir, : — In reply to your letter of the lYth, I beg you to say to the Com- 
mittee that I am fully sensible of the honor done me, in being designated to reply in 
behalf of "The Army and Navy." 

Their important and signal victories assure the preservation of that nationality whose 
attainment is typified in the name j'ou meet to honor, and I should have been glad of 
the opportunity to add my voice to the applause which a grateful country gives them 
on this anniversary. 

Especially would I have been glad to have found so fitting an occasion to express my 
own admiration of the brilliant successes of our Inland Navy, and that part of the 
Western Army in whose triumphs I naturally feel a special interest. 

My engagements here are, however, of such a positive character, that they will not 
permit me to be absent. 

2 



18 Republican Union Festi/oal. 

Begging you, therefore, to assure the Committee of my hearty participation in the 
objects of the meeting, 

I am, very truly yours, 

J. C. Fremont, 
Major-General TJ. S. Army. 
"Washingtox, 21st February, 1862. 

[Long-continued cheering^ 

A letter had also been received from Gen. Scott, which was read, as follows : — 

Gen. Scott's Letter. 

Brevoort House, Feb. 22, 1862. 
Dear Sir : — Nothing could be more flattering than your invitation for this evening, 
but I am very much an invalid, and fear that I am already under more engagements for 
the day than my strength will allow me to comply with. 

I beg you and your associates to accept my grateful acknowledgments, with the 
assurance that the esteem of my countrymen is very precious to me in the decline of 
life. [Loud cheers.) Winfield Scott. 

E. C. CowDiN, Esq. 

The ninth regular toast : — 

The Fathers of the Hejmblk — Inspired by the great principles of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, they battled not for themselves, but for their country and 
mankind. 

The Chair called upon the Hon. Henry J. Raymond, Speaker of the Assembly, to 
respond, who came forward amid great applause, and spoke as follows : — 

Speech of Hon. H. J. Raymond. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen: I respond with great pleasure to the toast which 
has been assigned me — a pleasure second only to that with which I find myself in the 
midst of this goodly band of Republicans, on the anniversary of the Birthday of the 
Father of the Republic. I think it meet and proper that those who have led off in this 
second great war of Liberty should celebrate the Birthday of him who was foremost in 
the war which gave us independence at the outset of our history. I think it eminently 
fitting that we should honor the memory of the Fathers of the Republic, for we have 
inherited their sentiments — we honor their names — and we are to-day following their 
example. There is not a solitary principle of the Republican party, that does not find 
its precedent and vindication in the principles and opinions of those who are honored 
in that toast, as the Fathers of the Republic, and as they then sent forth to the world 
that Declaration of Independence, which was the beginning of the great events which 
secured us freedom from foreign oppression, so have the Republicans of this day sent 
forth to the world, and are now sustaining by their arms, that second Declaration of 
Independence, which is to deliver this country from a still more formidable power than 
Great Britain ever was to us — I mean the Political Domination of Slavery. [Cheers 
and applause.) 

I take it, sir, that that was the specific object for which the Republican Party was 
organized. We saw day by day, step by step, growing up in this country the power 
of an oligarchy of a little more than three hundred thousand men, based upon an enor- 
mous property in human beings — an oligarchy based upon slavery — not content with 
the position assigned to it by the Constitution of our country ; not content with its 



I 



Speech of Hon. H. J. Raymond. 19 

position as a social institution and a form of labor, as an evil that had descended to it 
fi'om the past, and which they were to remove as they best might in the course of time ; 
not content with this, but seeking to establish itself as the permanent, dominating, 
supreme power, not only over its own section, and the States in which it existed, but 
over the affairs, foreign and domestic, of this whole Republic. (Applause.) It was 
this state of danger that called the Republican party into power. The nation had 
already seen all the powers of our General Government passing under the control of this 
same slave oligarchy, and by it, directly or indirectly, wielded in all the departments of 
the Government. I need not recite the familiar history. Slavery dictated the law of 
the land, and wielded the hand by which that law was put into execution. It is to the 
eternal honor of the Republicans of the United States that they had the courage and 
determination to make a stand against this power, and to declare the independence of 
the country of its authority and control. (Loud applause.) They succeeded at that 
tribunal established by the Constitution of the country for the settlement of all great 
questions of difference. They appealed to the ballot, and at the ballot they carried 
their point. Success had established the fact that the poAver and control of this coun- 
try — the Constitutional authority of the Republic of the United States — was properly 
and justly in the hands of those who were the foes of the political domination of Slavery. 
They established by the highest tests known to our Government their right to wield the 
Government of the United States. Was this oligarchy satisfied with the decision ? Not 
at all. They appealed from the ballot-box to the bullet. They declared that if they 
could not maintain their supremacy by their votes they would fly to arms, and by force 
maintain the domination they had usurped. They have tried that, and they must 
await the issue. 

We beat them with the ballot. We are perfectly willing to try the question, if needs 
be, by arms, and take our chance of beating them with the bullet. (Applause and 
cheers) We are willing to meet them on any field they choose to select, by any form 
of trial they can discover or invent, and there assert the right of the sovereign people 
of the United States to make laws and control the policy of the Government, regardless 
of the dictates of this oligarchy, which would make slavery the corner-stone of our 
great Republic. 

They started the rebellion with every prospect of success. They started with high 
and glowing hopes. They had been twenty-five years in making their preparations. 
They had organized their conspiracy. They had drilled their men. They had formed 
their alliances here, in our very midst, in the Northern States. They had allies upon 
whom they had counted ; and when they raised the, rebel flag they staked the existence 
of their oligarchy on the issue of that trial. 

We spent a long time in preparation. We had to do so, for they had taken us una- 
wares. We did not believe that they would rebel against the Government which was 
known to them only by its blessings, and against which they had not one solitary just 
and well-grounded complaint. We never believed, to the very last day of the experi- 
ment, that they were sincere in their purpose of rebellion. Thus it came to pass — 
while they were organized, while they could put one, two, or four hundred thousand 
men into the field upon the spur of the moment, we, on behalf of the great Republic 
of the United States, were without an army, without resources, without organization, 
without a settled purpose, without a fixed conviction, even, that it would be necessary 
to fight at all. All this preliminary work which they had done, we had to do after 
they had made the issue and presented themselves in the field to meet it. Is it any 



20 Bepublican Union Festival. 

•wonder that delay has attended our movements ? The Administration did everything 
which man could do to meet the emergency, and they are prepared to meet it to-day. 
They stand in the field ready to meet it — determined and resolved to meet it at the 
earliest possible moment — {applause) — and with what results the events of the last few 
days sufficiently reveal to us. {Reneived applause) 

We know now, as well as we can know anything that is still in the future, that the 
rebellion is to be crushed, and to be crushed speedily ; that its power is gone, that its 
back is broken, and soon even the Government which claims to exercise its authority 
will be scattered. That Government, which to-day is desecrating the birth-day of the 
Father of his Country, will soon be a fugitive from the capital which it has selected for 
the scene of its operations. [Ajyplause.) Who can doubt it who sees day by day the 
closing around it of the gigantic chain that is strangling out its life ? Who can doubt 
it who looks at the valor that won Fort Donelson, and is now pressing on to still more 
glorious fields of valor and renown ? [Renewed apjilause.) Who can doubt it who 
recals the valor of Buknside and the splendid victory of Roanoke Island? On every 
side the rebellion is incumbered by the forces of the Union, strong in muscular power, 
stronger in preparation, and strongest of all in the righteousness of their cause, and in 
the holy determination to win, or die in the attempt. (Applause.) We shall soon see 
this rebellion crushed; we shall have the Constitution restored; we shall have the 
opinions of the Fathers of the Republic enthroned in the Government of the Republic; 
and then we shall hear no more of the rebellion in all time to come. 

I have said that it was the object of the Republican party to crush the usurped 
political power and control of slavery over the General Government. It has done it 
already. It had done it undoubtedly before the first gun was fired — before the first 
appeal was made from the decision of the ballot. The vote of 1860 settled the ques- 
tion for ever. Slavery as a political power was dead on the day that Abraham Lincoln 
Avas elected President. (Loud cheering) I do not say that it was incapable of further 
mischief; so powerful an element as slavery, so great a property, having so many 
interests interwoven with it, had still power to inflict much mischief upon important 
interests of the country. But what man to-day believes, that on the day after the 
inauguration of Lincoln it was in the power of the slave oligarchy to wield a control 
over any one single department of our Government for any length of time ? Who 
believes that thereafter slavery could decide whether this or that man should go into 
the Cabinet ; whether such an one should be appointed Custom-house Collector, or 
Postmaster, in this Union, as for years they had done ? Who believes it was possible 
for slavery to give law to the Republic, and control its action in all its affairs — foreign 
and domestic ? Slavery, as a political power, was dead, but, if you will excuse the 
Irishism, it was not half so dead as it is to-day. (Ajrplause) It has now, in addition 
to a natural death, committed suicide. It has brought upon itself the extraordinary 
horrors of war. Slaveiy can no more stand up under war than an iceberg can stand 
against a flood of burning lava. It melts before its hot and fervid breath. Look at 
Port Royal, and wherever our armies go, for proof. The advent of an army of the 
Union breathes upon the institution of Slavery, and it dissolves like the mists before 
the rising sun. [Ajrplause.) Wherever our armies go. Slavery disappears. Then 
comes upon us the momentous task of providing for those whom it releases from all 
control — that control which was hateful and unjust, as well as that which is needful for 
their preservation. 

The Republican Party stands where it always stood, the supporter of the Constitution 



Sj^eech of Ron. H. J. Raymond. 21 

of the United States as our fathers gave it to us. It stands as the sworn friend of the 
Constitution, and the sworn foe of its enemies ; and it will crush out all rebellion 
against its authority. It will not pause in its progress — and the whole people in the 
North join it in the sentiment — so long as there is a single rebel in arms on any 
portion of American soil. Nothing but an unconditional submission to the Constitution 
of the United States will end the war which is now waged against its foes. 
[Applause.) 

Can we ask more than that : Can any man be so unjust to our history — to the 
history of the Republican Party — as to attempt to force us into a position hostile to 
that — hostile to the Constitution or transcending its provisions ? In all our published 
documents from the very outset of the Republican Party — ftom the day when our first 
pi'oclamation was given to the world at Saratoga ; then at Pittsburgh ; afterward at Phila- 
delphia, and then in that immortal document — for it will become immortal — the 
Chicago Platform — the Republican Party has pledged itself over and over again to 
stand by the Constitution and the laws. It has resented with scorn and indignation all 
attempts to charge it with violating the Constitution or aiming to put new doctrines 
and new principles in its place. {^Applause.) No ; no. The Constitution which our 
fathers made, — which their wisdom framed, — which comes to us consecrated by their 
blood, — sanctified by their love, — the Constitution under which we live, and the 
glorious flag which is the emblem of its authority — are the pole-star — the bright 
cynosure of our hopes for ever. [Loud applause and cheers.) 

Does any man fear that that Constitution will not secure to us all the liberty we 
need, or can desire? Does any man fear that under that Constitution and under that 
flag, wherever they go and are respected, they will not give freedom to all who come 
beneath their steady and pervading power? He who doubts must know little of its 
spirit, little of the soul of freedom which it embodies, little of the enfranchising power 
which it carries with it, wherever it goes. 

I rejoice that this rebellion is apparently near its end. - Sooner or later its end must 
come ; but whether it be within sixty days, or whether it be within two years, or 
whether it be in the next generation, this war must be carried on until upon every foot 
of American soil, the authority of the Constitution is recognised. [Applause.) I believe 
this will be accomplished without any changes in the Constitution. I believe the 
patriotism of our people will admit of no changes in the Constitution. They will insist 
that all its provisions shall be administered, not in the interest of one section, or under 
the control of any one interest — not for the promotion of the wishes or interests, and 
still less for building up the political power of any section, but with that large and 
liberal provision for the rights of all and the freedom of all, which is the very essence 
of that immortal instrument. [Applause.) 

We shall have the Union restored, I believe, without a star erased, or a State line 
removed — every State living under the Constitution, loyal to its spirit, and controlled 
by the people, who will hold it in its proper place. We have already seen some 
premonitory symptoms of the feeling which will be found at the very outset to pervade 
almost every State. I believe that, if Tennessee were called upon to vote to-day, she 
would cast an overwhelming vote for the Constitution and the flag of the United States. 
[Applause.) If she would not do it to-day, she would the day after our army takes 
possession of Nashville, and that is not a week off". [Loud applause.) Virginia has 
never voted against the Constitution of the United States. She is controlled by a gang 
of conspirators and rebels, who for the moment have got her loyal people under the 



23 Uepiiblican Union Festival. 

hoof of rebellion, trampling them into the mire of treason. Take off that hoof — hang 
the rebel leaders {loud applause) who control it now, and then you will see the old 
Dominion swing back to her old position, and lovingly rejoin her sisters under the 
Stars and Stripes. You will then see her people rejoicing again with us in the glorious 
memories of the old Revolution, talking of Yorktown — not of 1862, but of 1782 — 
talking of the beneficent rule of the old Republic, and cursing with the bitterness of 
hate the government which attempted to usurp its authority. Louisiana at the first 
moment will come in upon the same terms — namely, unconditional submission to the 
Constitution ; and I believe that will be true of nearly all the Southern States within 
two years. In some of them the progi'ess may be more slow. It may take a generation 
to extinguish the spirit of rebellion in South Carolina, but it will, sooner or later, be 
extinguished, I do not consent, for one, to the giving up even of South Carolina under 
any circumstances. We don't want her in the Union for our purposes — but we want 
her for her own. 

A Voice. — Divide her up. 

Mr. Raymond — No, I don't want her to be divided up. She must remain in the 
Union as a State, and we must make her people so loyal that they will curse the 
memory of their ancestors who attempted to take the State out of the Union. South 
Carolina needs what all bad children need, — discipline, — and that she is now getting. 
After we have given her people the chastisement they deserve, and have hung a dozen 
of the leaders who betrayed them, [applause,) we shall have given them a lesson which 
their children will not forget in all time to come. But whether it takes one year, ten 
years, or twenty years, South Carolina must be redeemed. If we could put her into 
the sea ; if we could sink her at the mouth of Charleston harbor, and thus establish an 
efi'ectual blockade there [laziffhter), I should be glad. But we cannot ; South Carolina 
is at least a "geographical expression," we cannot get her ofi" the map. I don't want 
to see her cut up and divided among the other States, I want her to be preserved, at 
least, as a relic of the great rebellion — as a curious and unique fossil, handed down to 
our children from another age. But we must reform and regenerate as we raise our 
flag over rebellious soil, and I believe it can be done, even with that most pestilent of 
rebel States — South Carolina. 

I believe we shall restore the States all to their allegiance to the General Government ; 
and until it is absolutely clear and certain that that cannot be done, Ave must proceed on 
the assumption that it can be ; because, if we enter upon the new experiment of wiping 
out State Governments, and establishing Territorial Governments or subjugated Pro- 
vinces in their stead, we enter upon a career of which no man can foresee the end. We 
are not engaged in such a war ; the real task of Government will commence when the 
war is over. (True.) Then will come the time when great hearts and wise minds will 
be required to shape the institutions of the future — not under the influence of justly 
resentful hearts, but in accordance with that far-seeing wisdom which looks to ultimate 
results — the lasting welfare of great nations, and which knows the best means of attain- 
ing them. That is the task that comes upon us after the war is over. I hope that the 
power of the Government will not then pass into the hands of the men who have been 
in sympathy with the rebellion. The great mass of the people of the Northern States 
are as trne and loyal as any people can possibly be. They love the Constitution ; they 
will fight for it, they will die for it, if need be ; nay, more, they will live for it, and 
exercise the best of their wisdom and judgment to make it the everlasting possession 
of all our people. But there are men here who have, from the beginning, in their heart 



speech of Hon. Horace Greeley. 23 

of hearts, wislied for the success of the rebellion, and have done everything in their 
power to promote it. They will be the men — the political intriguers — who will grasp 
at power, and they will hurl back at the Republican party the accusation that it brought 
on the war. Well, perhaps the Republican party did. The Republicans certainly did 
issue a declaration of Independence against the supremacy of the Slave Power, and if 
that caused the rebellion, for my part I am willing to bear my full share, be it large or 
small, of the responsibility for that result. [Applause.) And when the history of this 
country comes to be written a hundred years hence, what a glorious page this era will 
l^resent ! What will future generations say of the men who, in ]S60, dared to declare 
national and political independence of the Slave Power, even though the act plunged 
the country into civil war, through which alone it was rescued fiom the degrading 
thraldom ? Will they not honor the men who had the courage to issue the second 
great Declaration of Independence, and who redeemed the country from the tyranny 
that was fast being fastened upon it ? If I can trace our future history in the princi- 
ples which underlie the action of the present, such will be the verdict that will be pro- 
nounced upon the actions of the Republican Party of the present day. 

I beg pardon for detaining you so long, {Voices — '■^ go on^^) No, I don't intend to go 
on. I have said far more than I intended ; but there is no knowing where to stop, 
when treating of this prolific and inspiring theme. I have sought to state the principles 
which underlie this contest, and which were the cause of this war. The leading prin- 
ciple is, that Slavery, as a political power, shall no longer control the destinies and the 
Government of this Republic. The Republicans declared the National independence of 
that control, and they appealed to the people to sustain them in that declaration. They 
did sustain them by their votes, and they are now doing it by their arms ; and when 
this contest is over, they will by their statesmanship place this Republic upon the firm 
foundation of freedom and independence of Slavery. [Loud applause and cheers) All 
we have to do is to be true to our past history, brief as it is, but full of lessons of 
wisdom^ Let us be true hereafter, as we have been hitherto, to the Constitution which 
the fathers of the Republic handed down to us. Let the Republican Party but be true 
to itself and it will be true to the Constitution, and will secure for itself an honorable 
name and a permanent and a useful future. {Loud cheers and applause.) 

The tenth regular toast. 

The Press : — Truth's fearless champion on her midnight tower. 

Whose lamp burns brightest when the tempests lower. 

Hon. Horace Greeley, who was called upon to respond, was received with loud cheers, 
and spoke as follows. 

Speech of Hon. Horace Greelet. 
At this late hour of the night I shall not venture still further to deplete your waning 
numbers by making a speech ; it is too late, and your time has been too well occupied. 
Let me say a few words of the uses of the press in a struggle like that in which we are 
now engaged. A few days ago, some week perhaps, the attention of the War Depart- 
ment was attracted to the subject of the great cost to the army of music ; four millions 
of dollars a year was being paid for music for the army, and they thought it cost too 
much. Gentlemen, the music which has sustained the hearts and the arms of the loyal 
people in this struggle, this arduous and doubtful struggle, has been made, not by the 
bands, but by the newspapers. It was the voice of the loyal press which upheld the 



2i liejmlUcan Union Festival. 

country during the dark Lours wliicli followed the needless and shameful disaster of 
Bull Run ; it is the spirit of the press reaching every log cabin, and every fireside in the 
country that has rallied that great array of six hundred thousand brave men, who are 
now writing the history of America in letters of fire. [Cheering.) No doubt the press 
has made mistakes ; has been sometimes too impulsive, and sometimes too dictatorial, 
perhaps; but the spirit that sustained and animated it, has been one of intense devotion . 
to Liberty and to Union, when the rulers of the country dared not whisper the word 
Liberty, lest there might be some danger behind it of disafl:ection in the border States. 
The press has not feared to say to the world outside as well as to the hearts of the 
country, that this is a war for country and for freedom, [Applause!) Because it is so 
said the ranks of the Union armies are full, and the hearts of the soldiers are strong 
to-day. If the men before they go down to the war do not understand the nature of 
this struggle, they very soon understand it after they have gone down. I met a captain 
in Sickles's brigade last night, who told me that when his men enlisted nine-tenths of 
them were ready to mob anybody who was an Abolitionist, and now they were ready 
to mob anybody who was not an Abolitionist. This country is going through an 
expensive schooling, but the tuition will be worth all it costs. When we get through 
it we shall find that we have learned a great deal more than was set down in the pro- 
gramme. We shall realize that all compromises with iniquity are very costly in the 
end. [Great ap>plaiise.) Our patriotic merchants have found that out. They thought 
they were getting abominably rich out of the Southern trade ; but when they come to 
foot up, they find that iniquity and rascality do not pay on the whole. The lessons are 
the lessons of the war, the lessons of courage, and honor, and fidelity, and loyalty, which 
are being shown now in such contests as that at Fort Donelson ; these are spread 
broadest over the land by the loyal press. 'They are creating a new generation, a 
generation of youth around the humble firesides of the country, who are drink- 
ing in every hour lessons of patriotism, and lessons of love for liberty. These are to be 
the future men of the country ; these are to uphold the country in the dark days which 
I see ahead, and through the brighter days which I am sure will succeed them. I am 
expecting some base compromise, whereby the war will be ended in a way not at all 
creditable to the American people ; but I see beyond it that a few years of Pro-Slavery 
compromise will be succeeded by a brighter era, when the people, remembering the 
glorious lessons of 1860 and 1862, will return again with pride and affection to their 
first love, and will realize that devotion to liberty is not only honorable and worthy, 
but that it is the only true way of standing by their own interest and sustaining the 
well-being as well as the honor of the nation, I rejoice, then, in the faith that whatever 
may be the immediate present, the final, the future is secure. This land is to be the 
land of universal liberty [great cheering)^ a land where a man will not be ashamed to 
declare, — a land where men shall not be mobbed for declaring — that they believe in the 
doctrines of the Declaration of Lidependence. It is some years to this yet, but it is 
coming on, and 1862 is to be the glorious prelude to the better day that is to dawn 
upon us. In that faith I bid you God Speed in upholding and sustaining the principles 
of Republicanism, even though they should be compromised and sold out in the peace 
that is now not very far distant. 

The eleventh regular toast 

Owr Adopted Fellow- Citizens — One with us in dangers and sacrifices, as they 
are one with us in destine', — was briefly responded to by Dr. Solger in a humorous and 
patriotic vein. 



speeches of Hon. E. Delafield Smith and Hon. George Folsom. 25 

The twelfth regular toast. 

12. The Flag of the Union — Unfurled in the name of God and Liberty ; consecrated 
to a righteous cause by the immortal Washington ; dearer to us now than ever. 

The President called upon United States District Attorney, E. Delafield Smith, who 
was received with enthusiastic cheers. 

^ Speech of Hon. E. Delafield Smith. 

Admonished by the hour to which these festivities have already extended, I shall 
attempt to repay your generous greeting by the brevity of my response. The flag of 
our country ! Gazing upon its beautiful combination of colors — gladdened by its recent 
vindication on the armed deck and the field of battle — grateful for its renewed protection 
by the God of our fathers, — in what words shall we address the sacred emblem of our 
nation's memories and hopes ? 

" Flag of the brave ! thy folds shall fly, 

The sign of hope and triumph high ; 
***** 

Flag of the seas ! on ocean wave 

Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave ; 
***** 

Flag of the free heart's hope and home, 

By angel hands to valor given. 

The stars have lit the welkin dome. 

And all thy hues were born in heaven !" (^Cheers.) 

Honor to the loyal men, who now, with enduring courage, on the southern sea coasts 
and in the western valleys, literally "follow the flag and keep step to the music of the 
Union." Tears will make green the sod above the graves of their comrades who have 
fallen. Bold hearts on the Potomac await the hour of action, and the course of our 
eagles is upward and onward. ' {Reneived cheers.) 

I ask you, fellow-citizens, to unite in honoring the following sentiment: The War for 
the Union. May it never terminate until slavery shall cease to be a political power in 
the land, nor until traitors at home and tyrants abroad shall read, in letters of blood, — 
Insult not the flag of the United States of America. [Loud and continued cheering.) 

The thirteenth regular toast. 

13. The War for the Union — It was begun to defend and sustain the Constitution 
and the laws; let it be continued without truce or armistice until, by unconditional 
submission of every rebel in arms, the supremacy of both shall be wholly reestablished. 

Hon. George Folsom, Ex-Minister to the Hague, responded as follows : — 

Speech of Hon. George Folsom. 

Mr. Folsom remarked that the hour was so late he should not attempt saying any- 
thing more than a few words on the subject of the toast. In his opinion the army had 
accomplished as much and even more than could have been anticipated within the 
short time of its enrolment. Composed of men unused to war, and without the neces- 
sary training when enlisted, it was not to be expected they would all at once show 
themselves equal to veterans in the service ; but when called to face the enemy, they 
have exhibited a valor and steadiness under fire worthy of the most practised and dis- 



26 Bej^uhlican Union Festival. 

ciplined troops. Recent events prove their indomitable courage, and promise a speedy 
reduction of the rebel forces to complete submission. 

One word as to the course pursued towards this country by foreign nations. Hitherto 
the great reproach thrown upon us in England and on the continent of Europe, has 
been the existence of slavery in the Southern States — a reproach in which we of the 
North have been compelled to share. How often was the American traveller com- 
pelled to hang his head with shame when this infamy of our country has been brought 
home to him abroad, to which no answer could be given to palliate its enormity. But 
now, when the existence of this evil has led to a rebellion against the Government, and 
an honest effort is made to extirpate it if possible from our land, what is the course 
taken by the foreign powers on this subject ? Little short of an open alliance with 
slave owners and slave dealers ! There is one bright exception to the unprincipled 
course pursued by those governments. I refer to the example of Russia, not only in 
setting free millions of serfs of its own empire, but by sustaining our own Government 
in resisting the rebellious hordes of the South. Despotic Russia against constitutional 
England ! 

But I shall not dwell on these topics so pregnant with matter of the deepest interest 
— let us hope that a change has at length come over the minds of the European 
governments with which this country has been so long at peace, a change produced by 
the knowledge of their mistake in sustaining pretensions so much opposed to the best 
interests of mankind. And should the result be to extirpate slavery from the shores of 
the New World, they will rejoice with us and thank Heaven for a consummation so 
much to be desired. ' 

Among many interesting and patriotic letters, the following were received : — 

Hon. Hamilton Fish's Letter. 

New York, Feb. 21, 1862. 
Gentlemen : — Absence from the City has prevented an earlier acknowledgment of 
your invitation to the Republican Union Festival, in commemoration of Washington's 
JBirtbdav. Another engagement for to-morrow evening prevents its acceptance ; but I 
most cordially unite with you in congratulations on the return of the day, now more 
than ever joyous and welcome, by reason of the recent achievements of our national 
arms in maintenance of that Government of which Washington was the founder, and 
of that Constitution of which he was the first administrator, and of that Union which he 
so truly pronounced the palladium of our political safety and prosperity. I unite with 
you in earnest prayers, that our victories may be continuously repeated ; and that blow 
may follow blow, strong, quick, constant, and everywhere, till every vestige of rebellion 
be crushed, and treason ground to the earth. And I rejoice with you that this period 
of our country's trial has shown the heart of the people strong in attachment to our 
National Union ; as it has also shown their power mighty to uphold the integrity of the 
nation, to vindicate its authority, and to maintain its existence. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully yours, 

Hamilton Fish. 
Messrs. Elliot C. Cowdin, and others. 

Comptroller Haws' Letter. 

, City of New York, Department of Finance, ) 

Comptroller's Office, Feb. 22, 1862. ) 

. My Dear Sir : I regret my inability to be present at the Republican Union Pestival 

this evening, having accepted a previous invitation of a similar character for the same 



Letter from Comptroller Haws. 27 

hour. Added to the enjoyments incident to your social reunion, will be the gratifica- 
tion that he whose memory you delight to honor was one of the leading spirits in the 
formation of a Government which, since your last festal gathering, has successfully 
resisted a rebellion of the most stupendous proportions, and has thus vindicated its 
supremacy as a leading power among the nations of the earth. Be assured that I am 
with you in spirit. 

Very respectfully yours, 

Robert T. Haws. 
Elliot C. Cowdin, Chairman, &c. 

The festivities were prolonged until a late hour, and wound up with patriotic singing. 
The success of the aflfair was greatly forwarded by the following Committee of Arrange- 
ments : Elliot C. Cowdin, Henry Smith, John Fitch, Henry W. Smith, Spencer Kirby, 
Wm. S. Opdyke, James H. Welsh, Jos. D. Costa, G. W. Jaques, Joshua G. Abbe. 



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